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Wellpoint (BCBS) To Raise Rates in 11 States | 33 comments (33 topical)

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denominator? (none / 0) (#32)
by diogenes on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 06:54:29 PM EST
  1.  The total revenues of wellpoint are about sixty billion; even if they made NO profit based on the fourth quarter rate there would only be a one-off rate decrease of 16%
  2.  Profits were 334 million the year before in the fourth quarter and mostly run about 4-5 billion a year, not ten billion a year.  
  3.  Lots of insurers are not for profit.  What sort of rabble do you raise about them?
  4.  The private market seems to work fine for car insurance, life insurance, etc.  Maybe it's messed up for health insurance because of the way health insurance is different--because people get it tax free at work and because it is not portable.  You can't buy the cheaper insurance advertised by the gekko if you get insurance through the job.


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Differences (none / 0) (#33)
by ruffian on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 10:17:53 PM EST
Also the market is not the same for health insurance because the benefits are used regularly, as opposed to life insurance (used once) and car insurance (possibly never used). And of course car insurance is mandated in just about every state, keeping the pool large.

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Wellpoint (BCBS) To Raise Rates in 11 States | 33 comments (33 topical)

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